A well-timed NEA grant finally brings several local blues greats to the Jones Hall stage.

"We need those kids," says Hopkins. "The music masters in the high schools weren't teaching this music for a long time. In the past, this line of music, this blues culture, was not taught or mentioned in school. It's very encouraging to see some young people start to take an interest."

International blues star Trudy Lynn, who regularly performs in Europe, says she has been "totally impressed" with SPA's effort to bring this program into being. She's "overjoyed," she adds, to see herself and her fellow musicians presented in such a prestigious venue.

"Last year when we all got together for that photo shoot for the Houston Press story, with a lot of us there in one room, it got me to thinking about what we'll be losing when the last of that great generation of blues players and singers passes on," Lynn says. "Really, something like this should've been done a long time ago, but better late than never."

Jason Wolter

Houston bluesman Texas Johnny Brown is one of the many local legends performing at SPA Houston's "Preserving a Legacy."

"We've worked back and forth with the SPA," he says. The Blues Society has helped underwrite several of the outreach events this month, explains Bluestein, such as the young blues players concert and Sonny Boy Terry's harmonica workshops.

"We're just so happy that this event is happening," he adds. "For those of us who love the blues and want to preserve Houston's blues heritage, to see this music come to the stage at Jones Hall is like a dream. To see it backed by an organization of the caliber of the Society for the Performing Arts is just icing on the cake.

"Now we just need Houston to come out for this historic night and make this a huge success," continues Bluestein, "so it can happen again."

The harmonica workshops were extremely rewarding for me. Special thanks to the Houston Blues Society for helping out with harmonicas. The Society for the Performing Arts staff was remarkably helpful and kind. I am grateful to be a part of it all and have my band perform at the opening reception. Star of Hope Mission brought in 30-40 kids for the Gregory School blues harp workshop. I'd deem having nearly 60 youths mixed with a spattering of adults packed a library for a blues harmonica workshop in Freedman's Town a huge success. I've been teaching/lecturing blues and harmonica at schools, community colleges, universities, at home and in churches for many years. This was one of the best experiences I have ever had. To have a non profit of SPA's stature to show us how it is done truly benefits all of us on the Houston blues scene. Don't miss the Jones Hall Performance. The blues community needs your support and it is sure to be a fantastic celebration.

This is great! But then again, I see almost all the musicians mentioned above at The Big Easy during any given month. And it costs $5 at the most. When talking about preserving a legacy, my hat's off first to Tom McLendon for showcasing this kind of talent, while earning rather meager compensation for it all. He's someone who lives and breathes (and plays) the genre.And has done his part for over 15 years to preserve it.